Anderson set two records in first Aggie start
After a disheartening defeat at the hands of the Idaho Vandals last Thursday, the USU women’s volleyball players decided things had to change.
Luckily for the Aggies (11-13, 4-6 in WAC play), things changed for the better Saturday night against the Boise State Bronocos.
USU won the first two games against BSU en route to a four-game victory (30-27, 30-19, 24-30, 30-27).
After the Aggies fell in four games to the Vandals (29-31, 30-19, 30-23, 30-19) to stretch their losing streak to five matches, the players held a meeting by themselves, without the coaching staff.
“We had regular team meeting,” USU head coach Grayson DuBose said by telephone Sunday. “(Then) they said, ‘can we stay after and talk?’. We said sure. They talked for 10 or 15 minutes. I don’t know what happened. That’s the first time [they have met by themselves].”
DuBose went on to say he wasn’t completely certain the players hadn’t met by themselves before when the coaching staff was not present, but said “it was kind of nice [for them] to take some accountability. That’s good for me.”
With the loss to the Vandals (one in which DuBose said his team’s effort was poor), the Aggie coaching staff looked for a way to add a spark to the team’s play.
Part of the new formula against the Broncos was the decision to start sophomore walk-on Rebecca Anderson, a Logan native.
Anderson recorded 13 block assists and 14 total
blocks against the Broncos, which are both new school records in a four-game
match.
The previous record for block assists was 10 set by Denae Mohlman in
1997, and the previous record for total blocks was 12 set by Amy Bjerke in
1990.
“It provided a spark,” DuBose said. “I guess so. She did a really good job. It makes me look like an idiot for not putting her in earlier in the season. To set a record, I didn’t expect that at all. She’s gotten much, much better as the season has gone along.”
The previous record for block assists was 10 set by Denae Mohlman in
1997, and the previous record for total blocks was 12 set by Amy Bjerke in
1990.
The Aggies also set two team records for blocks in a four-game match with
42.0 block assists and 23.0 team blocks.
The old records were 32.0 blocks assists set during the 2005 season and 22.0 team blocks set during the 1990 season.
Other bright spot for the Aggies Saturday was outside hitter Amanda Nielson, who recorded her first career triple-double.
Neislon, a junior, tallied 18 kills, 11 digs, and 11 blocks.
Freshman outside hitter Hailey Jeppson collected her ninth double-double of the season with 14 kills and 20 digs.
Cameron Flunder led the Broncos with 15 kills.
“We weren’t able to stop [Flunder], but there aren’t very many teams that have an answer for her,” DuBose said. “[The Broncos] were much better than what I saw on video.”
-sbhislop@cc.usu.edu